Lincoln County school hit by burglar

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

(KTVI)-- It has turned into a destructive Spring Break at Troy-Buchanan High School.

A burglar ransacked classrooms and stole the school's safe.

The burglar, a white man in his 30’s, broke into the school around 9:00 Monday night and seemed as intent on damaging the school as in stealing the safe, a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department investigators said.

A sheriff’s department spokesman gave this account:

the burglar started pulling on doors around 8:30; it was dark, but there were people out walking and jogging on the track behind the school; after finding no doors unlocked he broke in through a boiler room door; ransacked 5-6 classrooms; in the middle of it all stole a Mountain Dew soda from a concession area; then pushed the safe down the hallway and out the door.

Neighbors were stunned when a Fox 2 crew showed them surveillance pictures – including the handle and lock torn from the door to the principal’s office with tools the burglar stole from the school’s shop class.

“Honestly it doesn’t surprise me. The way things have gotten, the way our country’s gotten. It doesn’t surprise me. Anything can happen, anywhere,” said Henry Mills, who lives near the school.

He said he and his wife, Cindy, were home at the time but heard nothing.

“I think it’s a shame. It’s sad. School kids are going trying to learn. We’re struggling to keep our schools open. Then somebody just comes in and causes all that damage,” she said.

There was more damageand more clues, including the suspect’s white minivan believed to be a Dodge Caravan.

Passersby also found a bank pouch and envelopes with the high school’s logo and letterhead along Highway RA about 8 miles north of Troy, MO.

“Somebody should know him. I hope whoever does know him does turn him in,” said Cindy Mills.

“There was about $600 in the safe and the suspect also had a “sleeve” tattoo, which covers an entire portion of his arm,” investigators said.

If you have any information, call the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department at 636-528-8546.